1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet aqueous ink, an ink cartridge by using the above-described ink, and an ink jet recording method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, an ink jet recording system has been developed in application to not only printing on a permeable recording medium, e.g., paper, but also printing on a nonpermeable recording medium by using plastic, e.g., poly vinyl chloride and polyethylene terephthalate. Heretofore, a nonaqueous solvent ink has been the mainstream of inks used for the nonpermeable recording medium. However, the water-based ink exhibiting higher level of environmental safety has also been studied recently.
In the case where a water-based ink, in which a main solvent is water, is used as an ink for the nonpermeable recording medium, a function of dissolving a surface of a recording medium is weak in contrast to the nonaqueous solvent ink, in which a main solvent is an organic solvent. Therefore, it is necessary that a binder is further contained to bring a coloring material into intimate contact with the recording medium. As for the binder, a water-based ink containing a polymer emulsion has been proposed (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-282822). Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-282822 discloses an invention related to a water-based pigment ink for a plastic film containing a thermoplastic polymer and a cyclic amide compound, which are dispersed in the ink. In this regard, it is disclosed that the cyclic amide compound dissolves the surface of a plastic film, the thermoplastic polymer film is formed through vaporization of water at the same time and, thereby, adhesion to the film is improved.